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THE CRUEL PEACE

Name: THE CRUEL PEACE
Author: Fred Inglis
ISBN: 0-465-01494-1

EVERYDAY LIFE AND THE COLD WAR

by Fred Inglis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 25, 1991

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An ambitious and engaging attempt to capture the elusive essence of a half-century of confrontation on the brink of the nuclear abyss. ``The cold war has been an extraordinary show to watch,'' Inglis (Education/Univ. of Warwick) says here, covering, conversationally and ingeniously, the full range of the spectacle- -from politics to science to art. Following a roughly chronological order, the author organizes his heavily anecdotal history into rotating sections of ``Biography,'' ``Events,'' and ``Fictions,'' beginning with a brief and dramatic ``biography'' of Frank Thompson, a quintessentially brave English intellectual killed as a result of Soviet indifference during the last days of WW II: ``The long fingers of the first moments of the cold war had reached out from Moscow and chilled Frank Thompson.'' Next come the ``events'' of ``The Casting of the Iron Curtain, 1945-47'' (Beria's reign of terror, George Kennan's design for American anti-Soviet policy, the birth of the atomic bomb), and then, several more ``events'' and a ``biography'' of Kennan later, Inglis's first ``fictions'': a lively meditation on ``righteousness'' and the movies and novels—The Magnificent Seven, Animal Farm, etc.—that ``taught that the American way of life, its fine independence and manly self-reliance, is the only meritorious way in a world of bad guys....'' Following this are ``events'' such as the Berlin Wall, the Cuban Missile Crisis, Poland's Solidarity, etc.; ``fictions'' dealing with ``loyalty and lying'' (spy films) and ``mistrust'' (All the President's Men, Gorky Park), etc.; and ``biographies'' of Freeman Dyson, Philip Agee, Joan Didion, etc. Finally, Inglis frames his patchwork tapestry in black, concluding that the ultimate engine for the cold war was ``prejudice, rigid fearfulness, ignorance, and superstition.'' A fresh and vigorous synthesis that humanizes the harsh march of history.

Pub Date: Nov. 25, 1991

ISBN: 0-465-01494-1

Page Count: 475

Publisher: Basic Books

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1991

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
COLLECTED POEMS
by E.P. Thompson & edited by Fred Inglis

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.